Very long story short. My wife and I are in the market for a new camcorder to help document family trips in the coming years. With our kid just getting into the "holy shit, please get off the table, WTF why are you on the... OMG stop jumping on the rocking chair you moron" we know that we probably want something to handle the situations our phones can't use, so we're probably most likely in the market for an action camera that can take a little bit of a beating.
Currently, I have my eye on the GoPro Hero 7 Black, and I'm wondering if anyone here has any experience with it. The image stabilization looks damn impressive, and the picture is great as well. But, I have read a lot of reviews that basically say the battery life is downright atrocious. For those of you who have experience, is this true, and if so, just how bad is it?
Also, does anyone have any other suggestions?
Comments
First thoughts after reading your headline:
Do they still call them camcorders?
when I look them up on amazon or best buy, they are under the 'action camcorder' filter, so I went with that. Personally, I just call them all a camera, but didn't want to confuse people with point and shoots.
I hear you. I was only half joking. I haven't had anything to record video outside of a cell phone in years. So, I had no idea myself. It just made me chuckle.
Yeah, we have a couple trips coming up this summer, first to the beach, where it would be nice to have a device that's waterproof and can take a little bit of a beating without worrying you'll screw up more than just a camera if you do something stupid.
Wish I could offer more input than a camcorder joke, but I, personally, haven't had the need for anything outside of what a camera phone can accomplish. But I also don't have kids. Good luck and enjoy your trips.
Yeah any action camera doesn't have good battery life. You're probably looking at 30-35 minutes recording realistically at highest settings. Having multiple batteries is pretty crucial, it will always be a limiting factor in that size of camera.
My wife and I use a camcorder for action scenes too but 30-35 minutes of battery life is usually more than enough for us...
/sorry couldnt help it.
So what do you do with the other 34 minutes and 59 seconds
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Any Panasonic Lumix with a gimbal. Won't be cheap but it'll look damn good.
Or Sony RX
I have an older gopro (hero 4 i think) - and the battery life suckssssss. I suppose thats what you get with such a small battery though. My parents have an olympus action camera that does point and shoot plus video and it worked really well for pur hawaii trip taking videos under water. It was $100 at bestbuy 6 years ago.
I'm just glad I'm not the only person who talks to their kid this way. My post-correction/event internal monologue is much more colorful.
Got my kid a Go Pro Hero 7 Black for his birthday a few weeks ago. He's been using it for surfing. Great shots for short takes, I'm not sure it would be functional for lengthy vacations with lots of activities. However, if you do decide to go with the Hero 7 - I found a killer deal on Ebay for the full kit (tripod, several types of straps/mounts, carry case, etc) which probably saved $200 or more.
Ebay Link